Los Angeles Councilwoman Jan Perry has just launched a new attack in the war against obesity: a ban on new fast-food restaurants in poor L.A. neighborhoods!

The move is trend-setting California's latest salvo in an expanding war on the fast-food industry, which is bracing for copycat maneuvers around the United States that could threaten growth.

But residents are skeptical that such laws will have much impact in Los Angeles' low-income and minority neighborhoods, which are already blanketed with cheap and easy-to-find meals at chains such as McDonald's, Kentucky Fried Chicken, Taco Bell and Domino's Pizza.

Edwin Tsai, interviewed at a cluster of fast-food chains in the affected district, which includes the neighborhoods of South Los Angeles, West Adams, Baldwin Hills and Leimert Park, said there were reasons people eat at places like McDonald's.

"It's fast and easy. I think people will still come here no matter what," Tsai, 23, said.

Since when did we give the government the ability to regulate what we eat?

The point of the government is to protect our rights, not take them away. Rights cannot be 'given' to you, but they can be taken away. You have rights simply because you exist, and the government is supposed to protect those rights.

deciding what you want to eat, where you want to eat, and how you want to eat it are not things the government should be controlling. They can, however, inform you that what you're doing is detrimental to your health, and suggest that you stop it.

Granted, in this case, they are just making a zoning law, but the points above are still valid, and our rights are slowly being violated.